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The U.S. Department of Justice has told states that federal law bars them from privatizing lotteries, a money-raising strategy several hoped to use for investments in education, roads, bridges and the like, Indiana’s Republican governor said in a statement on Friday.

Privatizating state assets has a mixed record in the United States, though this approach is fairly common overseas. Virginia and Florida are forging ahead, privatizing roads, bridges and tunnels, and Chicago recently leased its Midway Airport for $2.5 billion. But plans to privatize the New Jersey and Pennsylvania Turnpikes failed after proving unpopular.